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Update --kms flag help #1550

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tashian merged 4 commits into from
Jan 15, 2026
Merged

Update --kms flag help #1550

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f938a82
Update --kms flag help
tashian Jan 15, 2026
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tashian Jan 15, 2026
53d0f1f
Update flags/flags.go
tashian Jan 15, 2026
66ae2e4
Update flags/flags.go
tashian Jan 15, 2026
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38 changes: 36 additions & 2 deletions flags/flags.go
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -469,8 +469,42 @@ flag exists so it can be configured in $STEPPATH/config/defaults.json.`,
}

KMSUri = cli.StringFlag{
Name: "kms",
Usage: "The <uri> to configure a Cloud KMS or an HSM.",
Name: "kms",
Usage: `The <uri> to configure a (cloud) KMS or an HSM.
<uri> is formatted as **kmstype:[key=value;...]?[key=value&...]**. The **;**-separated
parameters identify the KMS, and **&**-separated parameters contain credentials and additional configuration for those credentials.

: Supported KMS types:
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@hslatman hslatman Jan 15, 2026

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Do we want capi, mackms, softkms and sshagentkms here too, to make the list from https://github.com/smallstep/step-kms-plugin/blob/main/main.go#L19-L29 complete? They're not all as well-known as the ones you already listed, but capi can be useful.

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@tashian tashian Jan 15, 2026

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I'm okay with just having the most common options shown, and if people dig into step-kms-plugin for the others. I guess I'm sensitive to the length of the help text.


**YubiKey PIV**
: Use **yubikey:** URIs. Parameters: **serial**, **pin-value**, **pin-source**, **management-key**, **management-key-source**.

**PKCS #11**
: Use **pkcs11:** URIs. Parameters: **module-path**, **token**, **id**, **object**, **pin-value**, **pin-source**.

**TPM 2.0**
: Use **tpmkms:** URIs. Parameters: **name**, **device**, **attestation-ca-url**.

**Google Cloud KMS**
: Use **cloudkms:** URIs. Parameters: **credentials-file**.

**AWS KMS**
: Use **awskms:** URIs. Parameters: **region**, **profile**, **credentials-file**.

**Azure Key Vault**
: Use **azurekms:** URIs. Parameters: **tenant-id**, **client-id**, **client-secret**, **client-certificate-file**.

: Examples:

'''
yubikey:pin-value=123456
pkcs11:module-path=/usr/lib/softhsm/libsofthsm2.so;token=smallstep?pin-value=pass
tpmkms:name=my-key;device=/dev/tpmrm0
awskms:region=us-east-1
azurekms:client-id=fooo;client-secret=bar;tenant-id=9de53416-4431-4181-7a8b-23af3EXAMPLE
'''

For more information, see https://smallstep.com/docs/step-ca/cryptographic-protection/.`,
}

AttestationURI = cli.StringFlag{
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